We are witnessing one of the largest mobilizations of capital in history. The AI buildout is expected to rival or surpass technological booms such as rail and electrification
Scary article
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/opinion/ai-economy-affordability.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7VA.BFdY.c6J78YEtlYRsOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
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But not give back like they did.
This boom will go bust, because most of it is worthless. Then it will be bailed out by governments.
It will be the greatest transfer of wealth from the average citizen in the history of humans, and future historians will remember this primarily as a scam and theft
My worry is that it’s not going to burst
It’s just going to capital leveraging their wealth
To make computing inaccessible to the masses
Except under strict cloud-based circumstances which they control
You can only afford tablets with 2GB RAM
You can’t make games, code your own platform, host your own services, pirate media, store legal media locally, or talk shit about Trump or billionaires or the government
And if you do they will revoke your access, including the way you pay bills and bank, register your car, keep in touch with family. Hell most phone calls are digital now
VPN and Tor clients no longer exist. Linux is illegal, only Windows or iOS/Android allowed.
The ultimate enshittification.
Or maybe we can learn what is possible with just a little ram?
Criminalising Linux is the big thing. Once alternative OSs are made illegal, it doesn’t matter how efficient your coding skill may be, you won’t have any way to run your code. In the long term, the more reliant on Vibe Coding, the fewer real programmers will exist. Even embedded systems like Arduino and ESP32 would not safe.
We need to start getting promises from government that they will be no AI bailout.
Not that politicians promises are worth anything, but it will make some people think twice before investing in NFT 2.0
Hard to do when it's a loss
I really don't know why they think they will get to control it. It's shocking how powerful a model can be run on modest hardware.
Most of the data centers being built will be obsolete in 3-5 years and there is no way they will be profitable in that time.
Sure Jan...
Railways have never been profitable.
Says the guy named after the tank engine.